Process of reducing ores.



cari s PRQGESS REDIICI1\TG ORES.

Lll29a862. No Drawing.

' ing Ores, of which the following is a full,

clear, concise, and exact description.

My present invention relates to a continuous process of reducing ores and slagging' impurities and is more particularly applicable to the direct production of refined iron, steel or ferro-alloys, such as ferromanganese, from their ores.

As is well-known in the direct reduction of iron-ore to steel in an electric furnace by the use of a limited amount of solid reducing agent insuflicient to carburize the reduced iron, the loss of, iron oxid in the slag is very considerable. If in such a process lime is added with the charge, a considerable removal ofv phosphorus ma be accomplished, but the loss of iron n the slag is nevertheless excessive.

It is one object of the present invention to accomplish the direct reduction of ironore and the slagging of an impurity like" phosphoruswithout the loss of iron oxid in the slag. Q The process of this invention provides a means of reducing oxid of iron without reducing the slag compound which holds the phosphorus and thereby diifers from the present processes for slagging phosphorus by holding it in a slag practically free from iron oxid or other similar metallic oxids.

In the reduction of oxid ores, the temperature maintained and the ducing agents go to determine the equilib rium conditions between the several components of the charge. In my United States atent, No.'1,034,788 dated Aug. 9, 1912, I have described a process of treating ore by which one oxid. thereof may be reduced without reducing the oxid of an undesired element.

My presentinvention relates more particularly to an improved process of selectively reducing a'given oxid from a mixture of oxide. I have found that in certain cases, an oxid which it is not desired to'reduce with the metal may be rendered less likely to be reduced by causing ittobcm- Specificationof Letters Bateat.

natureof the re- .1

pla es the Patented Mar. 2, I915.

Application filed July 15, 1912. Serial No. 709,466.

bine with some other oxid for which it has strong' affinity.

Inc'ertain cases the oxids of difierent elements have strong aifinities for each other and combine to form double oxids or salts. These double oxids have definite tendencies to dissociate their oxygen, just as do the several component oxids which form the salts. This tendency of a double oxid or salt to dissociateoxygen depends, to a certain extent, on the temperature and also depends on the affinity between the component oxids, and in many cases the double oxid is more difiicult to reduce than either of the separate oxid components. This is especially true when the two componentoxids are of widely different chemical nature, as where one is basic, and the other acid, as, for example, are lime and silica, respectively.

One measure of the afiinity between different oxids is the heat of formation of their double ox'idor salt. I Thus the heat of formation of calcium silicate from its component onids is represented as follows:

Cat)+Si(),=CaSiO,-l17,850 calories;

'afiinity of. phosphoric oxid for lime is greater than that'of silica for lime.

O The heat of format onof-iron-silicate,

I" reo+si o=resio,

'iS} 8.9.010 calories.

invent on in its applicationto the treatment of'qres contemplates the preparatien of the charge'by adding to the ore a suitable oxid or I fluxing agent having ailinity for the'oxid which it is desired not to reduce, thereby increasing the diflicultyof reducing the latter, and it further contem- I reduction of the desired metal by subjecting the charge to controlled temperature and' reducing conditions suitable forr reducing the oxid. of the desired metal but unsuitable for reducing the double oxid \formed by thefiuxing agent and the undesired element.

In general the oxid or salt compound will contain an acid radical and a basic radical. v

the heat of formation of calcium phosphate,

Thus calcium oxid (CaO) has a very strong afiinity for phosphoricoxid (P the one being very basic and the other very acid, said oxids combining to form calcium'phosphate 2 t= z (P04) 2- In the presence of iron, it is much more difficult to reduce calcium phosphate than it is to reduce phosphoric oxid, though under strong reducing conditions phosphorus now describe its application to the direct reduction of high phosphorus iron-ore to steel and t heasimultaneous separation of phosphorus therefrom. The operation of the process may be carried out in a single furnace or in two separate furnaces in which" latter case the charge is first brought to an elevated temperature and is then discharged into a finishing chamber inwhich the reduction and slagging of the impurities is completed. I prefer to carry out this process in a continuous manner, although it is to be understood that it may be carried out in any suitable type of furnace such asan arc furnace. Inasmuch as the preliminary heating of the charge need not be carunder the ried out under as strong a reducing agent as is required subsequently, I prefer to accomplish the preliminary heating by means of fuel combustion rather than electricity, especially Where cheap fuel is available. The charge is made up of iron-ore, lime, or limestone, and some form of solid reducing agent, such as coal or coke. The proportion of lime is sufficient to make a basic slag with the phosphorus silica in the charge when practically no manganese or iron oxids remain in the slag. The proportion of carbon is kept suificiently high so that the reduced metal will be carburized to the desired extent. Of course, steel of any per cent. carbon may be made by varying the content of carbon and it is desirable to accomplish as much reduction of the oxide by carbon as possible. During the preliminary heating of the ore charge, some reduction of the oxids is accomplished by the solid carbon. During the latter stage, a large amount of iron oxid is held combined with the phosphorus and lime as slag. By the action of a reducing gas forced through the charge arcs, or in any other suitable Way, the iron oxid is practically completely reduced, 1eaving the prosphorus combined with the lime as calcium phosphate. The solid carbon is completely consumed by combining partly with oxygen of the ore and also by partly high heat generated by electric I simple manner.

I 1,1ae,sea

carburizing the metal. The essential feature of the latter stage of the process is the ducing agent. If an excess of solid carbon were used in the charge so that solid carbon would be'present in the last stage of the process, the calcium phosphate would be reduced thereby. The reducing gas, however, is not-reducingenough to break up the calcium phosphate and it is this control of the reducing conditions which makes it possible by theprocess of this invention to selectively reduce the iron oxid and at the same time slag the oxid of phosphorus. The reducing gas, which is forced'through the ore charge under influence of electric heat, may be burnt subsequently and thereby serve to preheat the charge.

In case the phosphorus occurs in ironore in some other form than an oxid, it may be necessary to supply the blast with sufiicient oxidizing components, such as C0,, to enable the formation of calcium phosphate. In certain cases the use of limestone may supply sufiicient CO to accomplish this desired reaction.

By the use of the process of my present invention, low-carbon iron may be produced and the loss of iron-oxid in the slag may be practically prevented, and it is to be noted that the absence of iron-oxid from the slag makes certain refining reactions possible, such as the combination of sulfur with the lime, the sulfur thus separating from the metal and passing into the slag as calcium sulfid.

To give a further example, my invention may be applied to the reduction of manganese ore containing a large percentage of silica without reduction of the silica. As is well-known, the reduction of manganese ore in the blast furnace requires considerably more coke per ton of metal than is required to reduce a ton of pig iron. In the presence of an excess of solid reducing agent, and particularly at high temperatures, much silica is often reduced and the' resultant manganese alloy is high in silicon. The use of an excess of lime to flux the silica renders the operation of. the blast furnace very difficult because sufiiciently high temperatures can not be maintained. I

The process of the present invention enables the selective reduction of manganese from a silicious ore and the simultaneous slagging of silica without great excess of lime in the following very eflicient and Any suitable electrically heated furnace may be employed, such, for example, as an electric blast furnace. Lime is charged, together with the manganese ore, in proportion to form a fluid slag with the nary or partial reduction may be assisted" by charging a. small portion of solid reducing agent in such amount as to be entirely consumed before the charge is completely reduced. The selective action is accomplished byv using a reducing gas suitable for reducing the manganese oxid Without reducing the calcium silicate slag. In general, such gas should be'high in CO, hydrogen, or the like, and its reducing power controlled by oxidizing components such as car; bon dioXid. The temperature in the "reduction chamber is maintained preferably 1 above 1500? C. Producer gas containin only 1% or 5% of CO, and 25% of C is suitable for carrying out this process, and, under the above COTlClllIlOIlS, the silica is" slagged' with a' comparatively small amount of lime. In the same manner phosphorus may be eliminated from manganese ore.

As another instance of its application, the process may be used f or the separation of copper from iron in the reduction of oxid ores containing these metals. In this case, I prefer to use silica as the flux for the oxid of iron, and .thegaseous reducing agent is controlled as'described above for reducing manganese ore.

An additional feature of this invention, especially where large quantities of an undesired oxid are present in the material treated in accordance therewith, is the use of a. fiuxing agent which will produce afluid slag, thereby greatly facilitating the operation of the furnace and the separation of the reduced metal and the oxidized im- I consisting in subjecting the ore, at an elevated temperature and in the presence of a flux suitable for forming a molten oxid salt with the undesired impurity, to a gaseous agent having a selective reducing action on said metallic oxid, but which will not reducev said oxi'd salt.

2. The process of reducing ores contaming phosphorus, which consists in adding a lime flux for combining with the oxid'of phosphorus to form calcium phosphate, and subjecting the charge of ore at an elevated temperature to the action of gas suitable for reducing the metallic oxid without reduction of the slag compounds of phosphorus.

3. The process of smelting iron-ore containing phosphorus which consists in charging ore and lime into an electrically heated furnace, partially reducing the iron oxid with suitable reducing agent, then sub.- jecting the partially reduced charge to a gas suitable for reducing iron oxid under influence of electric heat, but not capable of reducing phosphorus, and slagging the phosphorus as calcium phosphate.

4-. The process of producing low-carbon metals, which consists in charging into a furnace oxid ore, a flux having strong ailinity for an impurity of the ore and a limited amount of solid reducing agent insufficient to completely reduce the ore; raising the charge to a reducing temperature; and completing the reduction of the ore with a reducing gas unsuitable for eifecting carburization of the reduced metal but having insuflicient reducing action to reduce the slag compound of the impurity.

5. The process of reducing ores and separating undesired elements therefrom, which consists in charging ore and a fluxing agent having strong ailinity for the oxid of the undesired element into a suitable furnace,

maintaining this charge atan elevated tem- 3 perature, and subjecting it meanwhile to the ing agent, subjecting the charge at an elevated temperature to the action of a refining gas having a stronger affinity for oxygen than the metal to be reduced, but whose aiiinity for oxygen is insufficient to reduce said salt compound.

7. The process of reducing a given oxid from a mixture of said oxid and an undesired. oxid, which consists in rendering the undesired oxid more difiicult to reduce by combining it as a slag compound with a fiuxing agent for which it has strong aliinity, and meanwhile subjecting the mixture at an elevated temperature to the action ofv a reducing gas having sufficient reducing action to reduce the given oxid vithout reduction of'said slag compound.

8. The continuous process of producing a refined metal of basic chemical nature from an ore containing impurities of an acid nature, which consists in providing charges of ores, solid reducing agent and a basic flux-- ing agent having strong aiiinity for the acid impurity, regulating the amount of reducing agent to prevent undesired carburization in the reduced metal, raising the temperature of the charge, and finally subjecting it tn the action of a reducing gas under an elevated temperature having a sulficient reducing action to reduce the metallic oxid withoutreducing the slag compound of the acid impurity.

9. In the production of steel, the process of reducing oxids containing phosphorus as an impurity, which consists in adding lime to form calcium phosphate with the oxid of phosphorus and} then subjecting the charge,

While maintained heated at an elevated temperature by means of electric heat, to the action of reducing gas suitable for reducing the metallic oxids of the charge Without reclucing the slag compounds of phosphorus. 10 

